All about probiotics: How to get them from both food and supplements.

The term probiotic comes from the Latin or Gree pro, “before, forward”, and bios, or “life” — thus probiotics are life-promoting.

In this case, we use the term probiotics to refer to beneficial bacteria.

We have billions of friendly bacteria living in our digestive tract. If you extracted all of the microbes that live in your body, you’d have over a quart of sludge. Each person’s bacterial flora may be as unique as fingerprints.

Friendly bacteria help us digest our food and absorb nutrients effectively. In a sense, we don’t actually digest many components of our food — the bacteria digest it.

The probiotic bacteria used in commercial productstoday are largely members of the genera Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium.

Check out a food or supplement with probiotics and the label might say something like “Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG.”

The first name that appears is the genus (Lactobacillus).

The second name designates the species within the genus (rhamnosus).

The third name or number that appears is the specific strain within the species (GG).

Why are probiotics so important?

To understand why probiotics are important, we first need to understand how valuable beneficial bacteria are to our health, and how prevalent they are in our bodies.

One important feature of a healthy GI ecosystem is balance. When good bacteria flourish, bad bacteria and other micro-organisms such as yeasts and fungi are pushed out.

And speaking of diet, if you eat animal foods, the gut health of the animal is important too. When animals used for meat/dairy consume pre- and probiotics, they have healthier guts and bodies.

What makes probiotics?

Most often, probiotics are created via fermentation. Friendly bacteria are all around us — you’re soaking in them! — so fermentation simply collects them and gives them a nice place to grow. Fermentation organisms produce alcohol, lactic acid, and acetic acid, preservatives that retain nutrients and prevent spoilage.

Probiotics are found in yogurt, buttermilk, kefir, sauerkraut, kimchi, and bacterially cultured cheese. Traditional methods of meat preservation (such as the curing of salami) also use fermentation of Lactobacilli to preserve the food, although arguably industrially produced cured meats no longer have health benefits.

Benefits of fermentation

Fermentation not only bumps up good bacteria but helps eliminate anti-nutrients. When grains, seeds and tubers are soaked, sprouted and/or fermented, we disable anti-nutrients. This is good. It means:

The food is more digestible (think tempeh instead of soybeans or yogurt instead of milk)

The food has more minerals (thanks to less phytates)

The food has more protein (thanks to less protease inhibitors)

And vitamin B12 is a product of bacterial fermentation. So, fermenting can create a reliable form of this nutrient.

Most tea is fermented. Fermentation intensifies the stimulant properties of the leaves and produces black and oolong varieties. Green teas are the unfermented leaves of Camellia sinesnsis.

As with all products containing living bacteria,probiotic products must be cooled during storage. If heated, they won’t survive. This includes pasteurization.

Prebiotics

Inulin and fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS) are common prebiotics. You’ll get them from legumes, fruits and whole grains. They are abundant in the food supply (assuming you eat real food). Oh, another prebiotic is galacto-oligosaccharide (GOS), found in human breast milk. Hooray for breastfeeding.

Prebiotics

Probiotics

What are they?

Inulin

Fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS)

Galacto-oligosaccharide (GOS)

Polydextrose

Arabinogalactan

Polyols like lactulose and lactitol

Certain species/strains of:

Lactobacilli

Bifido bacteria

Yeast

Food sources

Barley

Oats

Rye

Quinoa

Wheat

Onions

Bananas

Berries

Flax

Garlic

Honey and agave

Leeks

Artichokes

Yams

Jicama

Beans

Bacteria

Certain yogurts including dairy/coconut/soy

Kefir including dairy/non-dairy

Buttermilk

Sauerkraut (make sure it’s fermented and not just soaked in vinegar)

Pickles (make sure they are fermented and not just soaked in vinegar)

Bacterially fermented cheeses

Kimchi

Yeasts, molds, and fungi

Wine

Soy sauce

Tempeh

Miso

Mould-enhanced cheese (e.g. blue cheese)

Potential benefits

May improve GI health and nutrient absorption by nourishing good bacteria

May improve GI health and systemic immunity

Summary and recommendations

Probiotics seem to improve overall health, metabolism, immunity, digestion, and body composition. They may even help alleviate inflammatory conditions.

Getting probiotics from food:

If you are healthy, aim for 1-2 servings of probiotic rich foods each day (use the food source list above). If you’re hoping to prevent or alleviate a medical problem, you may need to increase the dose.

Getting probiotics from supplements:

Supplemental doses are typically expressed in billions of live organisms. Between 3 and 5 billion would be a starting dose. This could be increased to 10 billion if you are hoping to alleviate a specific health concern. Take with food/drink and use a reputable brand.

Getting prebiotics from food:

If you are healthy, aim for 2-3 servings of prebiotic rich foods each day (use the food source list above).

Getting prebiotics from supplements:

2-4 grams of FOS per day can help to feed healthy gut bacteria and keep things balanced. Supplementing pre- and probiotics at the same time might be a good idea.

Take note: You may actually feel worse before you feel better since bacteria release toxins.

Immune-compromised individuals can develop infections from probiotic microbes – be cautious if you are taking immunosuppressive drugs, if you have AIDS, if you are receiving radiation or chemotherapy, and/or if you are in the hospital.

Extra credit

Probiotics are not digestive enzymes. Digestive enzymes are like chemical grinders that chew up substances and break them down for us so we can absorb them. For example, we can’t absorb big chunks of protein, so our body uses proteases — protein-breaking enzymes — to break them down into smaller parts that we can digest.

Even dead probiotics appear to have beneficial effects.

It appears that using probiotics during pregnancy is safe.

Together, all of the microbes in your body weigh about 3 pounds – more than your kidneys.

Side effects of antibiotics include diarrhea, yeast infections and oral thrush.